Consent
by Sunruner
Summary: Finding a lover in an enemy. Good. Finding a new way to heal old wounds. Good. Failing to inform your friends, your family, and your community. Not so good. A sequel-ish, "Because I feel like it" story. Dusk and Oldersibling and Vale, oh my! Hiatus.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello all!**

**A few weeks ago I took down my story "Family" from the site here, it was getting old and I'd lost a lot of interest in it. I still like the story and where it was gonna go, just not in the context of Golden Sun anymore.**

**Shut up about Dark Dawn already- I said SHUT UP! Felix isn't _in_ Dark Dawn and his encyclopedia entries are scanty at best. I'm gonna do what I want and NEENER NEENER BLEH at everyone else! However: PLEASE RE-READ THIS CHAPTER OKAY? I edited several (small) aspects to agree with Dark Dawn, and since I develop a tick whenever I go too far against the canonical grain (sort of ironic, no?) I'm trying to keep with Dark Dawn as well as I can, while still refusing to relinquish the Dusk Ship.**

**So here it is, another Felix/Karst fanfic!**

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_**Consent**_

Chapter 1

Waking up was different from getting up, and he didn't want to get up yet. She was also laying on his arm, and he couldn't feel the fingers anymore.

"...Wake up." His voice was quiet, rough from sleep as he shifted a little on the bed. But it wasn't really a bed, just a heaped up pile of blankets on the stone floor. It was good enough. With his eyes still closed Felix nudged the back of her head with his nose, then rested back down on the pillow behind her.

"No."

He smiled at her weak reply, feeling, listening to her take a deep breath and stretch a little. They could have been closer, maybe with her back right up against his chest, but it got hot under the heavy wool blanket they'd slept with, so a little space was nice. But it could only be a little.

"Please?" He listened to her take another deep breath, like she was about to sigh, then cracked his eyes open as she wiggled a little before rolling around to face him. His arm was still asleep but he made it move so he could draw her closer, watching her faceted red eyes slowly clear as she pressed up to him. She wasn't the sort to curl or clutch, so he busied his fingertips by playing with the hem of her plain shirt; it had a big hole in the side and several stains, so she only ever wore it to bed.

"There's nothing to eat." Karst's voice managed to be sleepy and shrewd at the same time, but there was a lazy smile on her lips as his fingers took advantage of that hole over her waist.

"Again?"

"Again." Ah, right, he remembered now. She'd come in the evening before and they'd eaten the last loaf of rock-hard bread together. Her psynergy wasn't meant for baking, so unless they wanted to just eat flour they would need to find something edible in the market.

"Big strong man, can't even bring home some meat for the table." She ruffled her fingers in his dark hair just the way he didn't like, and he shook his head away after enduring just a second.

"Meat? No, but I can carry a brick of iron." And he could shovel coal, and pump bellows, and sweep floors... A blacksmith's life was not a very glamourous, but it might have paid better if he was actually a blacksmith.

She went for his hair again and he caught her wrist in his free-hand, forcing it down onto the blankets next to her head before rolling them a little and releasing his other arm. He flexed away the sensation of pins and needles, aware of her other hand twisting into the collar of his shirt be fore she quickly pulled him down for a kiss. It wasn't chaste or tender, and he managed to pin her other wrist down before they finished. He laughed at her a little as he felt her kick one leg uselessly under the heavy blanket: trying to hit him.

"That won't work."

"Fine." She stopped kicking.

When he went in to kiss her again her forehead shot up and bashed his nose. He was off her in a flash, profanities spluttering past his lips as he had a hand up to try and vainly catch the blood falling down his face.

"Charon's bitch!" He snapped, hearing her laugh at him over the furious roar in his ears. She knew how to hit a man so fragments of bone shot into the brain, but the knowledge didn't help as he moved off the makeshift bed and held his abused face.

"Here, let me fix it." All he saw was a huge grin and he almost slapped it right off of her, growling something obscene that only caused her to laugh a little more. It wasn't necessary for her to half-climb into his lap just to get at his face, but he stopped fighting her off and braced himself for the next step.

"For Mars' sake you had to _break_ it?" He said shrewdly, uncrossing his eyes after the pain of having the cartilage re-set. It felt like he was holding his face just inside an oven door as red light collected over her palm and soaked into the split skin, mending the wound. He busied himself with wiping the blood off his lips, turning his face and spitting red onto the cold stone floor next to their cot. The home had almost no furnishings, and it wasn't like he could stand up with her sitting on his hips.

"That's disgusting." She wrapped her arms around his neck, the comment only half-hearted as he warily let her move in for another kiss. One of her hands was in his hair while the other trailed down the back of his shoulder. They never kissed or touched in public, because with Karst it was never just one or the other. They didn't peck lightly at one another, or give a friendly hug, and certainly didn't walk around arm-in-arm like most couples did in Loho. No, if Felix was going to touch her, or vice-versa, there would be no half-measures or _'attempts' _at intimacy.

It was the sort of relationship where he didn't need verbal permission to lift that stained bit of cotton right up over her head and discard it. They were just careful about locking doors and where they installed windows in their private little abode.

It wasn't the nicest piece of land in Loho, or the cheapest, but proximity to the market had been just as important as keeping far, far away from the ocean. Loho was a fresh, active settlement growing up out of the ruins of an ancient walled city, and Felix's best guess was that the front of their property had once been a section of one of the city's quartering walls; the sort to distinguish between higher and lower classes, like Tolbi.

Whatever quarter had lain below the city's heart was still under the wall of rubble Loho was dug into, so the two of them had made sure to figure out just how much reach they had back into the earth and unexposed ruins before Felix started building. It turned out that they had a lot more than they had used already, so Felix could take his time and not worry so much about how many feet of stone he turned into sand in an evening, and focus instead on finding a way to get rid of the sand before their neighbours got too curious.

The only furniture in the house was a table and a wooden bench. That was it. Karst had taken on the task of finding and crafting things to actually make the shelter live-able, and had so far procured a fair amount of wood for planing and sawing and nailing together, she just had no nails, hammers or saws to get the job done with. It was Felix's job to work in one of Loho's forges and bring home money for those sorts of things; the hammers, saws, plates, knives, blankets, clothes, buckets, door-knobs, locks, window-glass, and food. Oh Venus the food, there was never, ever enough food unless one counted shellfish. Both of them got a little queasy when the money ran out and the only thing per-pound worth buying were the clams and molluscs which were farmed just outside the city harbour.

They'd learned that a good way to stave off hunger was simply to stay in bed on days when Felix wasn't called to apprentice in the forge.

"People are starting to talk, you know." This he said a while later, not so long that they'd fallen asleep again, but not so short either. "About us."

"Oh? And what do they think we're doing?" She was playing with the hair on his chest curiously, fluffing the brown curls up and then patting them back down slowly.

"Probably what we just did." Mm, he needed to stop smiling so much when he said that.

"Jealous." She teased, and he nodded with a little laugh. There was one small, brass-framed window in their 'bed' room, rectangular and small. Felix had placed it high under the eaves of the roof, along the south wall- the ancient one at the front of their property, so it was extremely inconvenient for anyone to notice, let alone look through. Together they were watching the sun crawl across the bare stone walls and counting the hours. "But who talks to _you_ about it?"

The question caught him after a long enough pause that he'd begun to doze again, looking down at her on his shoulder for a moment as he tried to remember what they'd been talking about.

"Oh, the forge-master."

"That _old man?_" She grinned at him teasingly, and he tugged the lock of red hair he'd been spinning idly between his fingers.

"Yes, that _old man_ who pays me." She'd already made that connection, but having him say it shut her up for a few seconds. He thought she was going to say something right away but instead she took the time to mess around with the blankets instead. Karst didn't settle down again until she was using his chest as a pillow and looking up at him, Felix watching her curiously and wondering why he no longer had her body pressed up against his for warmth.

"They wouldn't gossip about a married couple." She said simply, in a tone she could have used for saying _'People get wet when it rains.'_

"Well..."

"Oh please, it's not like we're doing anything _weird._" They stopped and stared at each other for a moment. They had the same thought.

"Except that."

"Yeah, but I didn't like that..."

"No, that was a bad idea..." Besides, no one could have known about... _that_.

"My point." Karst said, getting back to the conversation and pulling Felix's attention along with her. "Is that we should just marry and be done with it." Done with it? "The gossip." He knew what she meant. "Then why are you arguing with me?"

"I'm not!" He protested, but he could already hear the change of tone.

"Why haven't you, anyways?"

"Argued? Well earlier you broke my-" No, no definitely not what she'd meant. "You said marriage wasn't important."

"It's not." She didn't sound very convinced.

"...Come on, sit up." Righting himself as far as he could with her still resting on him, once Karst was up the two of them sat facing each other. She had the quilt wrapped around her legs and torso just by chance, so he caressed her arm and shoulder so it didn't feel like he was delaying the conversation. Her red hair had grown out again, the way he liked it: not in that stupid apple-shaped bob. Even months after that ugly style had grown out he still gave her grief over it.

"What if I told you it was a Valean thing, would that make you feel better?"

"I'm not upset."

"Liar." He took his hand from her seeing how she was just watching it. With them, having her not touch back was akin to most women pulling away.

"You always said Vale was filled with prudes and priests anyways, how could it be a Valean thing?" Her eye were critical, and he gave an absent shrug before coming out with the reason.

"In Vale, matches have to be approved by the council."

"_Excuse me?_" He laughed at her reaction, the stumped look on her face was almost cute.

"I don't mean the elders pair people up, but you need their permission. It's like Pluelle's blessing in Prox."

"No, it's not." She answered sharply. "Pluelle's blessing is just a blessing, he can object until he's blue in the face and it wouldn't matter. If families have a problem then they take care of it themselves, not go crying to the chief."

"Well, Vale's different."

"Very." She conceded, quieting for a few moments as she picked at the pilled blanket they'd been laying on. Felix was getting ready to lay down again and go back to pretending he wasn't hungry when she said something else.

"I still don't get it, it's not like you're Valean."

"_What?"_ And how did she come by that logic?

"Well, you're _from_ Vale." She admitted, and he kept watching her as she strung the words together. "But you don't live with those people. And you don't intend to go back to the camps. You don't even want to _visit_ that place anymore, and you only write letters to your father. You stopped keeping to Vale's meditations after only a few weeks in Prox and I've never seen you go back since. So what makes you think the council has anything to do with your life anymore?"

Absently, he was reminded of another reason for why he loved her. Karst wasn't ignorant or naive enough suggest they just go to the elders and get permission. Their match would be heresy in the community, provided they could actually make it all the way from the edge of the refugee camps to the Elders' presence without being mobbed along the way. Isaac's stories had given Prox a bitter taste to the Valeans, and his Proxian especially wouldn't be a welcome reality.

"I'm still Valean." He said, but the words dribbled slowly past his lips. He saw her getting ready to speak again and cut her off. Yes, he knew he hadn't answered any of her points, so he did something better. "But you're right." He was sort of nodding, half-rocking his head from side to side as he thought it over, then smiled as he reached out and tugged on her wrist. She came willingly and he enjoyed a few moments of skin-on-skin contact, finally pulling his lips from her neck again to speak.

"I'm a starving ex-patriot-" She laughed at him as he pushed her down onto the blankets again. "-who lives in a hole-" He didn't know how she managed it, but she tangled the blanket between them so well he had to let her go in order to move it aside. "-and sweeps coal dust for a living." In the end he gave up and let her saunter out of the room wearing one of his shirts, following only after he located a pair of pants and pulled them on.

It turned out she was lying: there were still three eggs left and Karst had just dropped them into a pot of water when he came out, wrapping an arm around her from behind.

"Marry me, girl. It can't get any worse than it is now."

"Big, strong man," She purred, coaxing the fire to burn with a flick of her hand before turning her attention on him again. "Can't even propose properly."

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"Everyone ready?"

"Just waiting on you, slow poke."

Most of Patcher's camp was still asleep as the young man quietly shut the Sanctum door. With the sun peering past the quiet landscape and the sleeping campsite, it was utterly silent as the blonde turned and faced his travelling companions. Both red-heads, both women, and both dressed for light travel. Isaac had been surprised when Kay had expressed a willingness to go with him and Jenna, but he really didn't mind her company.

"Did you get it?" Jenna asked calmly, her voice doing better than her body at hiding how ready she was to get going. Her tanned arms were holding a rough leather bag by a strap around her wrist, white cotton sleeves coming down to her elbows and a red stained travel vest on. A belt of brass trinkets and glass decorated her waist and held up the soft doe-skin pants which tucked into supple boots.

"See? I told you it'd be easy." Jenna shuffled her feet three different ways waiting for him to show them the relic he'd borrowed from the sanctum Priests. He lifted the small gold chain holding the lapis, both of them watching the deep blue stone twirl and glow in the early sunshine before Isaac wrapped his palm around it again. "So you're sure you've packed everything you need?" Jenna rolled her eyes at him and Kay had a determined look on her face he hadn't seen in a while.

"Please don't stall, Isaac." She was hanging back a little, but her voice was firm. Kay had her bright red hair as long as ever and plaited neatly behind her head, a blue and green headband circled her wide forehead and she had a small gold chain around her neck.

"I'm not stalling, just being thorough." Isaac absently wondered at her choice of attire, three layers of white, green, and red fabric making up a sturdy dress and protective apron. He kept quiet though, aware that Garet's sister probably didn't own many pants, and since they wouldn't be walking very far she should be fine anyways. At least there was a blue-dyed cloak sitting on the ground behind her, along with Jenna's equally bright sash, so she was prepared for their autumn trip.

"C'mon, let's go!" Jenna stomped her foot as her patience began to run out, Isaac beckoning her to be calm but not getting anywhere with it. "It's not like we're gonna be staying in Loho very long anyways. If we've forgotten something then we'll just get over it until we come back!"

"Fair enough. Alright, Kay, hold onto Jenna's arm." Giving the directions smoothly, he watched Kay swallow a lump in her throat before gathering up her things and doing as he'd instructed. The Lapis took a lot of getting used to, and he didn't doubt for a moment that Garet had been teasing her for days about the experience. Poor girl.

"Start it already!" Jenna was in no such condition, grabbing his elbow and giving Isaac a jerk that was both playful and urgent. They shared a look, and with a deep breath the venusian focused his power into the small blue stone in his glove.

"Alright, Felix. Here we come!"

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**Edited for Dark Dawn. I'ma still ignore a lot of DD for this, but will attempt to work it in properly in places. Obviously this is taking place like... 2-3 years after TLA.**


	2. Chapter 2

**If this is NOT your first time viewing Consent (IE: you read it BEFORE February 2011), I would kindly ask that you go back and re-read the first chapter! I've made some contextual edits to keep in line with Dark Dawn. **

**Massive Author's Note at the end of this chapter.**

**Enjoy!

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_**Consent  
**_

Chapter 2

A year ago he'd meant to pass through the colony on his route back to Patcher's camp, but for his own reasons, had never made it out. One of the worst earthquakes ever felt in Loho had struck before he was set to leave, but even before that there had been _someone_ to distract him from setting off for the Goma Highlands.

The earthquake had been a frightening event, even for him- the half-built ruins Loho was made up of had crumbled and hundreds had been trapped inside homes and public forums across the settlement. He'd let his psynergy out more than ever during this first terrifying hours combing through the rubble, and more still in the days that passed and the number of trapped survivors dwindled. Hiding his abilities had been next to impossible, and if Karst hadn't been there to deflect attention at just the right time, or if he hadn't let himself listen when she spoke reason, it would have been hopeless.

"_I could heal them."_

"_I know that, but then what? How would you explain it?"_

It had been difficult, but she was right. He'd given enough of his life, he wasn't going to give the rest of it. She let him be selfish for once, she let him take a stand: he took her out of the city to resist the temptation of his psynergy.

Besides, a strange monument had appeared north of Loho and had stirred up the monsters in the area: bringing them prowling down across town limits. Together Felix and Karst occupied themselves with that for weeks following the immediate catastrophe. When they returned everyone assumed they had just fled the chaos and disease that had spread shortly after the earthquake. No hard feelings. Felix's job was waiting for him when he went back to the forge and their home had contained nothing of value when the looters went through it.

Since then? It had mostly been rebuilding. The winter was kind, or maybe the earthquake had been since most food stores had been excavated with minimal water damage. No one starved, or at least no one who could work and earn their living for the cold months. But still, if it wasn't fixing things damaged or required at the forge, it had been continuing the construction of their own home which had consumed Felix's thoughts for months now.

Structurally, yes, it was sound and fine. But aesthetically the dry stone building was three walls protruding from an earthen wall in the township's west quarter. Near the tradesmen, far from the livestock, a long winding path from the sea and up a steep incline too. Close to the sanctum and a few neglected forums and a so far half-revealed statue of some ancient hero or deity.

Work kept him busy, so it fell on her to look after the house.

Karst did not mix kindly with domestic chores: her cooking was two parts trial and eight parts error, and as well as she could mend items, actually knitting or sewing something together from scratch seemed far beyond her skills. The only reason she stayed home at all was because the house wasn't fully constructed yet: she had several bricks of limestone sitting by their door for crushing and mixing into plaster today. She was the one who'd built their kitchen and properly installed the windows, both of them working on the chimney and exterior walls. Practically speaking: if Karst _had_ been better versed in cooking and sewing, they probably wouldn't have enough of a home yet for it to matter.

Forging was hard work, and Felix wasn't even at the level where he did more than place rods and ingots in the oven for heating. It was his job to keep the fire roaring, shovelling coal in through the little red window and pumping hot air with the bellows. The objective was the glowing red coals, not high flame that just wasted energy. Smoke was also bad because it could cause impurities in the metal. When he wasn't constantly pumping or scraping up black lumps, he was sweeping away shards of metal and excess dust away to keep the floor clear.

It was grunt work, hard labour, with relatively little thinking or problem-solving. But you had to pay attention. It was the sort of work that left the body numb after a few minutes and didn't dissolve into pain until the sun went down and there was a real difference in temperature between doing one job and another. He rarely touched the metal itself unless explicitly told, but that was happening more and more the longer he worked here: the forgemaster had said Felix would be trained in the real work so long as he put in his dues on the furnace, and he was slowly making good on that promise. He could beat a rod until it was roughly the shape the blacksmith wanted, and would then back off to his other duties while listening to the man either critique or approve of the rough work.

Felix wasn't made to work the front of the shop very often either, there were four ovens so he was quite content to remain as far away from the displays and money-boxes. There was no air in the front either, even with the front door propped open and the sunshine coming in from the round copper-rimmed windows that lit up finished axes and picks and shovels. In the back there was an entire wall that had been knocked out when the quake hit, so it had been renovated into a retractable door of wood and metal. Ample light and a lot of fresh air came in as a result, the autumn sunshine was cool instead of hot and made the work more enjoyable. It opened out onto a little side-street through which coal and ore deliveries were made, but there was only a few yards before the alley broke out onto the main thoroughfare.

He didn't like breaks, but was taking one by that open door when his day changed completely. She passed him without registering in his thoughts, though her red hair was incredibly bright, almost orange, in the sun. She stopped walking and he didn't pay it any mind, letting another breeze touch his sweaty skin and taking another drink of water from the wooden cup in his hand. If he hadn't tipped his head back he would have seen her turn and stare at him, instead he just heard:

"Felix!"

The water almost got stuck in his throat, but he forced it down and shook off the quick spark of surprise. He was looking at a pair of apple-red eyes in a pale oval face, just a few light freckles dusted across her nose and confusing him for a minute. A layered dress of green, red, and blue with white sleeves was standing there: shorter than him, the rumpled white collar of the shirt was in line with his collar-bone, and the shoulders slight enough that with his work he was nearly double it in breadth.

"...Kay?"

"It's you! It really is you! I can't believe I-" And she hugged him. He didn't expect it and was knocked back a little on his feet before recovering. His mind was starting to spin though: Kay was supposed to be in Vale, how was she here instead?

"Kay, I'm filthy, don't-" But she didn't care, and she didn't let go either until she was good and ready to. Her arms were tight around his chest and her face resting on his shoulder before she slowly pulled back. There was such a happy, sincere look on her face that he smiled back at her, a little nervous but, yes, happy to see her.

"This's a surprise, how did you get here?"

"With the others." What others? "Oh, I mean Isaac and Jenna. We all, well, we all came to see you!"

"Really? That... I didn't expect it, but I guess that's alright."

"You guess?"

Whatever she thought of that, or that he might have said to fix it, didn't ultimately matter. A sharp call from inside the forge gave Kay a start, and Felix quickly downed the rest of what was in his cup.

"Which inn are you staying at? I'll come see you this evening, catch up and everything, alright?" She was looking past him through the open forge wall. With a confused look on her face, her attention snapped back to him and she nodded slowly, smile returning.

"Sure, okay. I'll tell them." She half-turned when he did, but then whipped back around, "Don't be late!"

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**What, that's it? I KNOW, I'm SORRY.**

**PLEASE don't expect quick updates! I have a crushing school schedule and a happy social life now, so when I have to choose between Ficlets and Milton, my GPA gives the cranky old puritan a one-up on creativity. **

However, to try and combat this I am (shuddering to say it) going to see if smaller, much shorter chapters will help me churn things out in a timely manner. My typical chapter length for the last few years has hovered between 3500 and 5000 words (7-10 pages). This current chapter, minus this AN, is only (sob) 1500 (3 pages).

**Also:** I have a love-hate relationship with Dark Dawn. I think it's an outstanding game, I think it is a quality addition to the series, I think it's the best we could have hoped for thematically and story-wise. However there is CLEARLY another game coming out (the TLA to Book 1's TBS) and that means I'm doing a funny dance with Lady Canon at the moment. If push comes to shove that bitch can throw a mean punch. Lets just hope GS4 doesn't kill Duskshipping forever!

**And now for a quick plug: **While I have a lot of Dusk-fics, I'm no longer the only author who writes this pairing! If you're looking for stories then please subscribe to "_Duskshipping- Felix/Karst fics"_ in the C2s so you can add any Dusk-fics you come across! It makes me look bad when my stories make up half the archive.

**Another great resource is also Martin III's forum **_"The Land of Fire and Ice"_**. So be sure to check out both!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Amusingly enough, Dark Dawn actually makes aspects of this story easier to reconcile now XD The big event in the middle/end was really stupid when I plotted this the first time, now it'll be cool and fit with the overworld.**

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_**Consent  
**_

Chapter 3

He was late. Not leaving the forge, but in getting out of the house. Karst wasn't there when he got home, meaning she was probably out in the market still. It made sense: they'd had no food yesterday and he'd seen just a _flash_ of her at the front of the forge collecting his pay this afternoon before she'd vanished to go find them something to eat.

He could have gone straight to the inn, but she knew he was hungry from yesterday and now they had some money again so there was no telling what she would buy. If it was a sack of potatoes and dried fish, or a large piece of cured meat, then there would be no issue. If it was vegetables or something that wouldn't keep all day until tomorrow, then it was just money wasted...

He waited there, washing the soot and sweat from his skin in the tiled corner they'd designated as the washing area- the bath they were planning was still a pile of raw materials and a few hundred coins away from fruition. Changing into dark green britches and layering on a clean white wool shirt and blue vest, he had his long hair half-tied back and had just finished placing another log on the fire when he gave up.

The sun had already been down for an hour, and even with reconstruction still incomplete there were at least four active inns in Loho. Despite asking Kay which one they were in, the girl had completely neglected to tell him. He'd just have to hope he was lucky and found it before they grew fed up and went to bed.

There was no paper in the house, so he couldn't scrawl a note on anything for Karst, making sure the fire was still burning high before he took his scarf off a partially-assembled workbench and wrapped the thick green fabric around his neck and over one shoulder. It wasn't so cold in Loho yet, but the temperature always dropped at night and his hair was still coarse and damp across the back of his neck.

He didn't get it right on his first try, but without having to trek all the way down to the water's edge he stopped under a swinging yellow sign. The fresh paint and new hinges reminded the locals of the widespread damage done, and gave the illusion of prosperity to newcomers. Moving from the dark, chilly twilight into the warm glow of the inn let his muscles relax a little. He hadn't known he was so tense until now.

"Felix!"

The commons was quieter than he'd expected but still active with a few burly, hard-working patrons enjoying mugs full of frothy beer. Kay was easy to spot though, her scrupulous outfit and shocking red hair seemed to grab the ambient light and reflect it back around the room. Something shy and infectious in her smile made him return it, ignoring the occasional look from the other patrons. She turned to speak to someone he couldn't see in the corner of the commons, near the stairs leading to the next floor, but then came back around and quickly slipped her hand into his.

"I'm so glad you're here- we were getting worried!" Placing his other hand over hers, Felix had expected a hug more than a clasping of hands, but was alright with it as he bowed his head a little, smiling easily.

"Well, I asked where to meet but you didn't tell me." This confused her, clearly, but a deep red quickly bloomed in her cheeks and he laughed it away, dropping their hands so he could dismiss the subject with a wave. "It's alright, I'm here now, aren't I? Are Jenna and Isaac this way?" Stepping around her, Kay had nodded quietly, Felix slipping his hands away as she folded them in front of her dolefully. She didn't lead him, just followed a pace or two behind until the table came into view.

"Felix." Isaac stood up with Jenna at his side, a form-fitting blue robe was on his arms and travelled down just past the knees, an odd cut and made from the new denim material that kept showing up in Loho from the east. Still, after the odd garment it was still Isaac underneath, a bit of reservation on his face and poorly hidden. Felix didn't resent it, he felt a little of his own anxiety rising as Isaac stepped out from behind the table and extended a gloved hand out to him. His typical gold scarf was looped once around his neck, the beginnings of a thin yellow beard protruding from the man's chin.

"Isaac." A lot was said in a simple handshake. Isaac gripped his hand too hard, Felix pumped too much from his shoulder. The friendship had served its purpose, now they were just acquaintances: two men who had grown up in the same town. He knew Isaac's place was in Vale, watching Sol Sanctum, and Isaac in return knew Felix belonged anywhere else.

At least that was what it seemed like, something else came across through their element but their hands came apart like sand before it became clear. Distance was more appropriate for now.

"Felix!" Nothing was strained with Jenna, his sister's grin was an exaggerated version of Kay's smile. Of course, Jenna couldn't settle for something as innocent as a handshake or a quick hug, so his sister's arms caught him around the shoulders and she hopped a little on her toes to get up close to him. Answering her with a laugh, he wrapped his arms around her in a proper bear-hug and danced a few steps back with her.

"I think you've gotten taller again."

"Not funny!" She sniped, Felix smiling a little wider before Jenna let go and he was pushed by her into a chair. "I'll get us some food, you sit down! Did you eat dinner? _Don't let him leave!_" The first two parts were directed at him, the third was a surprisingly sharp command directed at Isaac, complete with a finger-point and a commendable version of their mother's _do-as-I-say_ glare. Kay settled into the chair next to his, scooting closer to avoid the table-leg, and Felix looked at Isaac curiously.

"That was brisk..." Isaac shrugged, a half-laugh coming up his throat.

"She's excited to see you again. Everyone's missed you back home." Ah, not what he meant.

"If I get up and hide before she comes back, would she actually _blame_ you?" The only time he ever saw a woman back home get away with tasking someone like that was if-

"Isaac and Jenna are engaged now." That. Kay placed her hand on his wrist as she spoke, smiling and leaning in a little as she gave the news like some sort of amazing secret. Well, it _had_ been secret, now it wasn't. Isaac wasn't looking at him when Felix brought his eyes around from Kay's innocent, giggling face, the blond had lifted his pint up and was taking a drink, pretending to admire the wall of the establishment which led out into the brighter part of the commons. The lantern on the wall behind Isaac was too dim to afford as much light, not helping the vague tension that was rearing its head again between them. Some sort of beast curling up in the shadows under the table.

"I hope you don't object."

"Object? No, of course not." He didn't expect Isaac to call him so abruptly, but on the other hand sort of appreciated it. It forced Felix to spit out an answer from his gut, not mull over it for the rest of the night and beyond. No, he didn't object. So in a way that meant he approved. Alright, he could do that. Jenna had said yes, she knew what she was doing. "You're a good man, I hope she makes you happy." Their eyes did meet again when he said that, and the beast hissed a little before grumbling and settling back down to sleep. Isaac knew what he really meant, and since he nodded there was no need for further discussion.

"The wedding's going to be this summer after the spring planting!" Kay chimed in, either mis-reading the scene or intentionally glossing over the lack of conversation. "It's going to be beautiful, even after all changes around the camps everyone's looking forward to-"

"Wait, changes?" He interrupted again, partly because he didn't want to hear about the wedding so soon after learning of the engagement, but also for clarification. "Did something happen around Vault?"

"Didn't you hear? Vault's gone." Jenna's voice came behind him and Felix turned to see her with a tray of drinks, accepting the wooden tankard she handed him as the inn's serving girl swooped down with a tray of roasted pork and chicken- perhaps the most expensive thing on the menu here. The tray attracted looks from around the room, most of the patrons making due with thick stews and vegetables, seafood was the main fare in Loho. Felix's eyes watched the fat gold coin Isaac pulled out of his pocket travel into the maid's thin fingers, she seemed shocked by the money and stuffed it deep inside her pocket. It would find its way someplace safer before she appeared on the floor again.

"Gone?" A piece of chicken passed his lips and Felix didn't elaborate on the question, the meat was tender and filled with hot juices which washed over his tongue. Land-bound meat was expensive here, dried meat was a bit more affordable but never had flavour like this. His stomach was ravenous and would have been satisfied with bread and veg, now it wanted him to stuff it full of the platter instead. He gulped some of his beer instead to cut the craving.

"Earthquakes." Isaac answered, confused by the pile of bones resting on the side of the meat. Felix almost jumped when Isaac brushed them away and reached for a piece of flesh instead. He subtly took one of those next and resisted the urge to crack it open right now. He'd been averse to marrow when he first left Vale, but Prox had taught him the value of every piece of an animal's body. Maybe he could take them home for him and Karst to share, or make a soup from, but then he remembered who had paid for the meal and firmly pushed that thought aside. He wasn't going to walk out of here looking like a beggar.

"One struck here as well, about six months ago. Drew the sea up dangerously close to the town's edge." Dangerous, but not enough to frighten them away after the damage was done and the water lowered again. "We have a proper harbour now thanks to it, but it was worrying at the time."

"Well, three struck around Vault, flattened it twice and the third time." Jenna made a ripping motion with her hands, something Felix took to mean the ground had simply split open and swallowed the town whole. Watching her and Isaac sit together didn't rattle him as much as Felix might have expected: having her serve them had been different, watching Isaac select choice cuts from the platter and share them with her was reassuring. When the maid appeared again she had a hot loaf of bread, compliments of the innkeeper.

_'Of course it is, you've given them a month's income in one night.'_ He said nothing of the sort, and it was an unfair accusation. He'd done the same thing when he'd come through Loho the first time, and continued to for the months when he'd lived out of one of the local inns. Things only got expensive when you tried building a house: when you couldn't work the same hours or get the same kind of sleep. It was hard to furnish a home on pay that had only been meant for a bachelor with no responsibilities.

"So where'd everyone go? All three of you are here so that must mean things have calmed down, right?" Briefly, the fear that he may have been sitting at this table with the last three Valeans crossed his mind. Thankfully, the idea fluttered away by the time Jenna shook her head and Kay had ripped off a piece of bread for him, touching his arm again to get his attention.

"No, things were under control by the time we left, but the mountains have all moved and grown up around Mount Aleph." She explained, filling his cup again as he wrapped a piece of salted pork up in the warm bread-crust. "There's no way to access the mountain anymore, and everything looks so barren now." So, no more orchards then. A look at Isaac confirmed his thoughts on what Kay had called the growing season- the time of year when a bit more grass grew on the rocks.

"So the plans for New Vale..." All three shook their heads. "What happens next?"

"People are dispersing," Kay said, a sad look on her face. She must have been thinking of her father and brother. Generations of Vale's mayors all come to an end with the Golden Sun event. "Most are gone already, off to Kalay." She turned her eyes on Jenna, and Felix followed curiously. Isaac was looking at the wall again but his fiance looked stoic and undeterred.

"Kalay is a _good_ place to live. Lots of work, the Karagol sea, the silk road-"

"But you don't _know_ if the Silk Road can be repaired again." This from Isaac, who looked at Felix and explained. "A volcano near the mouth of the Lamakan spewed lava into the desert and through the pass connecting it to the west. There's a possibility Champa may have been lost as a result, but so far Piers hasn't returned from his survey." This was an old argument, already one they'd had before. Jenna chomped through a piece of bread without tasting it and Isaac swallowed more of his frothy drink without speaking.

"So no one's staying at all?" It was difficult to pursue the discussion, but now Felix had to know. Could the Elders really be convinced to leave Mount Aleph once and for all? Would anyone listen and stay behind if that weren't the case?

"Do you remember Patcher?" Kay asked, eating some of her own food as Felix nodded.

"The merchant who used to travel between Vault and Vale, of course."

"Him and his son have established a new camp near where Vault was. Some of the people from both towns are determined to stay there and make it work, like my brother." Ah, so that was what the mayors were up to then. The elders would probably stay there, close to the mountain, but far enough away to survive. "It's still coming together, but give it a few years." She looked away from him, shuffling her feet under the table, like a child on a swing. "It... kinda looks like Loho."

"...Oh?" This time it wasn't his uneasy relationship with Isaac causing something to bubble up in his stomach, the greasy meats causing an uncomfortable reaction. "How long are you three staying in Loho?" It was, in his mind, a valid thought.

"Not... _too_ long." Kay answered, biting her lower lip like she was trying not to smile, her fingers wiped off on the napkin the innkeeper had left on the table. She was twisting it back and forth until it was a wrinkled cord between her hands. "Just a few days. We missed you, Felix." Oh, um.

"How's everything been for you here?" Jenna asked, the previous discussion now forgotten as she leaned in a little, smiling that small, semi-sad smile she sometimes put on when upset or pining for something. "We were really worried when you, y'know, didn't come back..." Ah, yes, that was right.

"I suppose one thing led to another here, once I got back from Hesperia at least."

"Yes, we got your letter about that, but... That was a long time ago." She needed to stop looking at him like that. Shifting uncomfortably in his seat, he cracked open the bone he'd been fiddling with most of this time, scraping out the blackened insides with more bread and popping it in his mouth to avoid having to answer.

"A year, almost two..." Kay added, Felix turning a little to get a glance around the commons- it was quieter now, more and more people were packing up and heading home. He could feel Kay watching him from the side, and Isaac's eyes boring into his back. Jenna's attention was just a hot screen, shining on him like the sun.

"I should get going." He stood up quickly to the sound of both Kay and his sister cooing at him to sit down again, that it was much too early for him to leave them. Isaac was the one with the right angle though.

"Does your landlady lock you out?" What? Oh-! Felix caught himself before he could ask what Isaac meant, remembering that none of his very few letters home had deigned to mention his new living arrangements.

"No, but you all just arrived and must be tired."

"But Felix we've been resting all day! I was out for a walk when I saw you." Kay stood up as she spoke, holding onto his arm again with both hands. How many time had she done that tonight?

"I have work tomorrow."

"Can't you take a day off?" Jenna chimed, resolution in her voice and a warning look on her face. "Just tell them your sister's in town! I'm sure that'll work!" He freed his arm from Kay by placing a hand over hers and easing her grip off, making sure he had his scarf with him and feeling a sharp pain in his pocket when he saw their meal half-finished and knew he had no money in his pocket to cover the expenses. It was frustrating, Isaac sitting there with a cold, knowing look- as if he'd taken Sheba's power and was staring right into his head.

"It would, but I need the money." The words were hot, and they were the wrong ones. He almost swore as soon as he heard himself say them, knowing it wasn't some sort of condemning phrase, but still. It was weakness. They'd come to see him, not the other way around, he wasn't going to stand here and confirm that Isaac had come out on top yet again. "I'll see you here tomorrow."

Kay reached out a hand again, standing next to him with the other curled up against her chest, the napkin still clutched in her fingers and wrapped around her thumb tightly as she watched him. Felix took two very quick steps away before turning again and facing the table, looking at Isaac and wishing he just wasn't there.

"Tomorrow you should head north, about two hours from Loho the mountain split open and there are runes and statues inside. A few places with torches too, you should take the girls." And then, to Jenna and Kay. "It was good seeing you again, Jenna, and you." He nodded to Kay, keeping his distance and forcing a smile. "Until tomorrow then, good night."

He left, walking out of the inn. He then ran the rest of the way home.

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**So sinfully short D: However since I'm basically putting chapter breaks where my usual page-breaks and scene-shifts go, at least I know how to start the next one! I'm going to try for another update tomorrow, then once Monday hits I don't know what'll happen.**

**Read and review! I have no idea how OOC any of this was. **


	4. Chapter 4

**It occurred to me when I wrote this chapter that some people might have a real problem with the way I depict Karst and Felix's relationship, and I think that's a valid opinion to hold. If anyone does get that sense that what I've done here is skirting a very important line, then I welcome any comments or concerns. Reviews and PMs are excellent ways to open up a dialogue on the matter, and if I don't respond right away it's a result of school, not backing out of my word.**

**I'm always in the mood for an intelligent discussion, so post away!**

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_**Consent**_

Chapter 4

"Your doing it all crooked. Here."

Jumping a little as Jenna spoke, Kay looked down at the braid in her hands and frowned at the bends that kept cropping up. The bed shifted a little as her friend climbed onto the sheets behind her, drawing the rest of Kay's apple-red hair over her back and reaching around for the brush to undo the poor work.

They'd rented two rooms for their stay in Loho, Kay and Jenna sharing this one while Isaac stayed in the one across the hall. There was only one big bed for them to sleep in together, but Kay didn't mind it so much. There was a lantern on the wall and they'd lit the candles on the small table in front of the room's mirror. Other than that there wasn't very much to talk about: the plastered walls were free of any odd stains, and the beds were probably over-used and not very comfortable. A single window looked out at Luna and the tops of the old stone town.

"Do you think tonight went well?" She asked softly, picking up a lock of hair Jenna had tossed back over her shoulder and running her hands over the red length. She could partially see her reflection on the bubbled glass, like a fire-lit ghost watching over Loho.

"Mmm..." Jenna seemed to be thinking pretty hard, running the soft bristles through her hair a bit more before answering. "I don't think it went _bad_. He hugged you today when he saw you, right?"

"Yes."

"Then I don't think there's a problem."

"Okay." Feeling the familiar tug on her scalp as Jenna started braiding, Kay let the silence stretch a little as the lock was dragged out of her her hands and woven into the cord. "Has he gotten... thinner?"

"_Kirin_ yes! Isaac said he looked fine but there's no way he's been eating enough. Maybe he should change inns." A few more quick tugs, and little harder this time, showed a little frustration on Jenna's part. "He probably hasn't had a good meal since he left home. I'm sure Hamma's a good host but the Shamans don't eat enough bread." That's right, Felix had gone off to Hesperia to help Ivan and Sheba with something. He just hadn't come home afterwards.

"Do you think I should make him something?"

"Of course you should! Dora gave me one of her recipes for spiced bread, and every-time Isaac gets something in his head I just make one for him." She could hear her friend grinning and giggled a little in reply.

"Sort of like Aaron and candied nuts."

"_Exactly_. Besides," A tap on her shoulder meant Kay could turn around now, kicking one ankle up under her so she could sit comfortably on the bed facing Jenna. It was like they were sisters now, or almost-sisters, sitting in their night-gowns as Jenna worked a little piece of blue ribbon into the end of the braid and used that to tie it off. "What happened the last time you two met?"

"Well, I invited him to have lunch at our home." She answered slowly, frowning as she thought back. It felt like a long time ago, but she could remember that afternoon so clearly. "But then after I saw him he'd had some kind of loud argument with Isaac, and Garet said he didn't know what really happened." And then the next day Felix had been gone. Fiddling with the ends of her hair, Kay looked up and saw Jenna picking at the pilled top of the quilt.

"Do you think Isaac...?"

"No, he wouldn't." Jenna answered quickly, but the look was there and they both felt it. Isaac had been furious when Felix had left, so it wasn't like he'd told him to go in the first place. "I don't think they ever... agreed."

"On what?"

"The quest." Jenna was staring off into one of the candle flames now, the yellow light reflecting off her eyes like she was in some kind of trance. Kay made sure not to say anything: it was so rare to hear about the Golden Sun Event from anyone who wasn't Isaac or Garet. And they only told it one way. "I don't think Felix ever saw it like an adventure. I think of him when the tidal wave hit Dalia. I remember how he hated Briggs but couldn't bring himself to really stop him." Another quiet moment, more silence. Jenna's lips moved a few times but without sound, a bit of pain worrying her features and giving her eyes a bit too much shine. "I guess he still felt like the villain."

The words felt unkind, but with the memory of the earthquakes and the Golden Sun Event itself... Maybe they were true.

"Do you think we'll be able to get him to come home?" It was a question she didn't want to ask, but... Felix had been fine the entire time they spoke of what was happening to the Valeans, he'd sat next to Kay and smiled at her, been someone important to her again. But at the mention of going back he just...

"Even if we don't, Loho's not so bad." Jenna answered, laughing a little around a quick tear. Her friend wiped it away with one hand before Kay could move for a handkerchief, sniffling quickly and straightening herself up with a brisk shake. "I mean, the ocean's right there, Kay. Did you ever think you'd see it, for real?"

"To be honest, it kinda scares me." She smiled because it was infectious, laughing a little like it would make those dark thoughts disappear. Nodding her head, Kay really didn't know if she could handle that endless blue stretching out from Loho to the west and south. It was so vast.

"Think about it, your kids could grow up swimming in the ocean!"

"My kids... You're right." She really was right.

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Unlike before, this time when he got back to the house every flame had been doused. This was as bad a sign as it was good, especially when he came through the door and found the log he'd placed on the flames only half-consumed, the few scattered candles were healthy stubs of wax, not sad puddles incapable of light. It took a mad woman to put out a hearth-fire.

Felix wisely avoided the kitchen to his left as he came in the door, aware that he should avoid any place where there were- by memory at least -any obstructions to block his path or cause trouble for him. His sense of the earth helped navigate walls and stairs- not that the latter existed in their home -but didn't save him from the heavy bucket of dry mortar that struck his foot and sent up a clatter. The sound startled him into a coughing fit as the chalky powder launched itself into the air, chasing after him as he stumbled to get away from the cloud. Next came the timber planks set up against the wall that he half-remembered being there when he left.

"Mars' breath, what are you _doing!"_

"Swearing!" And if they'd had any neighbours near their property, waking them up. Felix shut his eyes as red light flared up around the room, free-standing flames licking at the stone ceiling and giving him enough light to figure out how badly tangled he'd gotten himself. He wasn't injured, continuing to swear out of frustration as he kicked one of the planks away from his ankles where it had tripped him up, batting the green-grey dust out of his hair with one hand and yanking his scarf off as he stood up.

"I can hear that, how much did you drink?"

"A pint. Not even."

"_Really?_" Critical was a toned down description of her voice, Felix turning to see her standing there in the door-frame leading back into their room. There was no actual door, but a proper, angry woman didn't need to whip something open or slam it shut to make her entrance. Her arms were folded briskly under her modest chest, or at least the general location- even his imagination couldn't quite pin-point her attributes under the thick, heavy, shapeless sweater she had on, it matched the formless, scratchy-looking long pants that fell straight from the edge of the sweater down to the floor like an angry brick.

"Since when do you get mad when I go out?" He felt himself getting defensive now, calling her on the bad mood.

"When you don't have any _money!_" She shouted, bringing her voice to a sharp yell and causing his spine to snap up like a rod. "Did you have any tonight? How the hell did you pay?"

"I didn't." He winced even as he said it, watching her hands come up with fingers curled like claws, gripping her head. "I'll pay him back tomorrow!"

"No! You'll pay him back and then you'll buy him a round! Why would you do that?"

"You collected my pay!"

"_You told me to!_" Her hands came down like fists, pink cheeks flushed with hot, angry red. He could see her teeth flashing like white fangs behind her blood-red lips and her rose coloured hair was tossed around her face with all the order of a torch. Felix could feel his blood getting hot, his martian heritage worming its way to the surface as he filled his lungs and boomed back at her.

"_Food or beer, you stupid bitch!_" He was bigger than her, louder by far. She set the bar with her bad temper so he paid it back double. When she turned and ducked back inside the other room he followed with footsteps that should have rocked the house off its new foundations. The lights behind him dropped out of existence, only a few slim bands of moonlight keeping the house from dropping into total darkness.

"_Beer!_" The black mass he was following moved and her palm sent a hot crack across his face. "We'll go hungry before we go into debt you-_!" _He aimed and swung out with his fist, missing wide but reaching out with his other hand and getting a hold on part of her shirt. He heard her feet skid over the stone floor and a yelp escape when her back hit the wall. Pouncing with one hand and slamming it against her shoulder. Her leg came up and sent a forceful kick into his side before he answered with a solid blow to her ribs, winding her with a cough and making sure she stayed in her place.

"_Shut up_." He hissed, breathing through his teeth as he used both hands to hold her arms now, just above the elbows. "I'll pay him back _tomorrow."_ But that didn't mean he'd let go of her _now, _or that he'd ease up on the pressure forcing her back against the stones. Felix could feel the heat radiating out through her clothes, hear her breathing as quick as he was. Her heartbeat was so strong he could almost hear it, feel it pulsing along her arms. It drew him in like a trap, and he forced his mouth over hers, pushing until he heard her relent with a sound that meant if he went any further he'd hurt her.

"Then I'll just take half." He swore loudly when she bit him, almost drawing blood from his lip. He got a hand around her slender throat by the time she finished speaking, snarling at her in the dark until those slivers of moonlight let him catch a flash of waist and hip. He let go so she could finish drawing her arms up and that horrible wool smock over her head, Felix not waiting before he attacked the matching lower half. Her fingers worked like hot little flames, singeing buttons off his shirt and branding his skin through the cloth. He shoved her back against the wall when she tried twining herself around him, forcing her to stay put and feeling her nails rake across his scalp and shoulder in defiance.

"Strong men don't have debts." Her possessive words sizzled over his ear. Pressing his thumb down over the soft bend in her throat, he answered.

"Shut up, woman."

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**At the moment I have no idea when I'll be posting the next chapter. I'm dealing with some mid-terms this week, so, yay. Hopefully I'll be able to keep working on it though, these chapters've been fun :3**


	5. Chapter 5

**I really had to force myself to get this done, because otherwise I was gonna just sleep all Saturday. Not the best chapter, in my opinion, but at the same time I don't plan on having too much filler. Maybe by next chapter I'll toss in some better meat :D

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**

_**Consent**_

Chapter 5

Felix woke up slowly, not sure what the clatter was in the other room until a loud ceramic _crash!_ and a sharp curse forced him to prop himself up on his elbows. It was early, very early, but about the time he should have been getting up anyways. Dawn would be arriving soon, so he used the new light to work out where his clothes had gotten to, pulling them on slowly before he left the dark room behind and looked around.

"What are you doing?"

"Swearing." Karst answered sharply, but her temper was mild as she looked at him and then scuffed her foot over the broken shards of pottery on the floor. That explained the crash.

She was fully dressed, able to get away with wearing britches in Loho since it was a rough enough sort of place that wearing a skirt could physically stop someone from getting around town. Soft-soled boots kept her feet off the cold floor, and she wore an old white blouse under a blue vest. Her red hair was slightly damp, hanging lower around her face than normal and obscuring the scar which travelled up the side of her neck almost to the point of disfiguring her eye, but spared it.

"Is that milk?" He asked, looking down at the white puddle marring their floor.

"Not anymore." She answered, producing a serrated blade from a block on the kitchen counter, and turning it on the brown, crusty lump she'd pulled out of the oven. This was when Felix's stomach woke up, his mind registering the smell of fresh, unburnt bread.

"Did you make that?" Ever since she'd learned the proper quantities for everything, flavour had never been an issue in Karst's bread. Her main problem was always heat and baking time, but apparently she'd worked that out as he quickly moved up behind her, moving his hands around her waist until she kicked him with her heel and he backed off slowly.

"No, the Djinni on the roof did." She answered plainly, giving him a warning look before Felix leaned back over her shoulder again to get a look at the bread as she pulled it open. A cloud of steam burst from the white insides, and his stomach rumbled appreciatively.

"So you bought milk?" He asked, nuzzling the back of her head until she shook her damp hair to make him stop. "Special occasion?"

"No. I drank some of it, turned more into butter." Pulling off a section of crust, she shook it in the air a bit to let it cool a little more, then popped it in her mouth as soon as he tried reaching for it.

"You made butter?" He immediately started looking around, aided by her finger as she pointed to a small wooden plate with a cloth thrown over it. Underneath? A lump of yellow butter.

"I had milk." Which was incredibly expensive. He'd only tasted it twice since he'd come to Loho. "Any idiot can churn butter, and I used the buttermilk for the bread." Butter and fresh bread, maybe she hadn't been so angry after all. Speaking of which.

"Why the temper last night?" But Karst seemed bored with the conversation now, pulling more and more of the bread apart and finally deigning to give him a piece. Hot, thick, chewy, but not hard or dry at all, she used the same knife she'd cut the bread with to smear some of the butter on her piece, then held the blade out for him to do the same.

"You weren't home."

"Yeah, but that never makes you mad." She didn't answer him, enjoying her breakfast with a shrug as she hopped up on the sturdy brick-and-wood counter next to him. The cooking area was just a square in the corner of the house that had been cordoned off, the two walls framed with the cooking surfaces. No water-pump yet, there was a well about a hundred yards from their front door, but the oven was new and functional.

"You were mad too." He didn't expect that, Felix looking up in mid-bite before setting the knife down a safe distance away from her, chewing what he'd eaten and shaking his head quickly. "Liar."

"I'm not-" Swallow. "Lying."

"Stop that." She sniped, and he scowled back at her. "Someone said _something _to make you mad, otherwise when I came out last night you would've just put on that stupid smile."

"...He didn't say anything."

"Aha!" She seemed much too happy about that, Felix watching her grin at him before she crooked a finger in his direction. He didn't like being laughed at, but came anyways, letting her cup his face in her warm hands and kiss him. Alright, fine, yes. He'd lied. "And now you feel better." Of course! They'd- "But the shouting helped too, didn't it?" The ones before or aft- ow! "Don't be coy."

"_Me?_" Oh, that was rich. "You don't want _me_ to be coy?" This time she had to deal with the interruptions, Felix not giving her a break until her rosy cheeks went a little bit darker and she turned her face away. He kissed her scarred neck with a smile, then stopped as he remembered part of their night. Pulling back a little he changed how he was resting his weight, holding himself forward with a hand on either side of her. She noticed what he was doing and gave him a curious look, but he ignored it as he rested three fingers against her chest, gold light collecting and spreading down through the blouse into her skin.

"Felix." There was a small warning in her voice, then she grabbed his hand with one of hers and held it away. "Stop that."

"Listen, it was _my_ temper and-"

"And I stirred it up! _On purpose_." Opening his mouth, he found her hand in the way, jerking his other one free from her grasp so he could fight her off. "You let _everyone_ boss you around, you _have_ a temper-"

"Yours is worse-"

"Shut up." She hopped down off the counter, making him back up a few steps just so she had someplace to stand. "I don't know what's the matter with you, but whenever you bottle everything up you get sick inside."

"Says who!"

"Says you!" Felix almost choked on his words, his shout echoing back in his ears, completely rebuked by Karst's voice as she just chirped her answer back at him. That grin was back on her lips and a horrible little glint twinkled in her eyes.

"I don't know what you mean."

"Oho, poor Felix..." No, hell, what was this? Stiffening as the argument died and Karst walked on her toes to reach him, she draped her arms languidly over his shoulders and Felix just stared at her wondering why she was suddenly acting so strange. He'd just walked into something, but he didn't really know what. "You say a lot of things after you're spent." She was twirling a lock of his hair around one finger now, and Felix felt himself squirm a little. "You just talk, and talk, and-"

"I get it, Karst."

"Then don't apologize." He felt her tug on him and leaned down to kiss her again, his temper waning as a few seconds ticked by. "I'd know if you tried to hurt me, Felix, I've felt it before." Looking up at him Karst tilted her head just-so, dragging one finger down her throat to trace the line marring her skin. His thumb followed a moment later, Felix resisting the urge to pour more healing energies into the mark he'd tried over and over again to wash away. It was an old scar now though, there for life.

He didn't say _'I love you',_ it wasn't a common phrase or one that really passed between them all that often. Once she stepped away from him Felix _did_ tell her he would be late again, watching her shrug as she cut off a few proper slices of the bread they'd torn into already, buttering one side of each before wrapping them up in a clean towel. This was handed to him for his lunch, and she confirmed that today she would only pick up half his wages, waiting there with her arms folded in front of the door for him to promise to pay back the one who'd fed him the night before.

He didn't get a kiss when he left, even when he doubled back for the scarf she'd shaken free of last night's mortar-dust. And he didn't tell her Isaac was at the inn with Jenna. And he hoped he hadn't gone and _'talked, and talked, and talked'_ about his evening before falling asleep next to her. Was there a reason to hide it? No. But was there a reason to tell her? No.

Maybe he needed her to help with his temper, or his stress, or whatever the problem was, but his past was something Felix could reconcile on his own. It hadn't worked so well in Vale, that was true, but Loho was different. He'd make it happen here. He'd send Isaac home.

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**Yeah, not my favourite, not very fun. But it's done and it's an update and I thought it was important to finally have a scene where Felix and Karst weren't stuck in one extreme or the other. Next update should either be later today or sometime Sunday.**


	6. Chapter 6

******Russian Roulette. **Chapter re-posted. Scroll to the bottom.

**Now, since I've been so consumed with my DD work recently Sunny's decided that she doesn't want to give this story a million chapters to help properly flesh out the blahblahblah. You've seen this plot before, I'm not bringing anything new to the table, so I'm not going to write three more chapters of Felix sneaking around behind his fiance's back while you go "Sadface, Felix. Tsk tsk.". **

**This chapter is a nice re-cap and summary, then we get to jump right into the shenanigans. We clear?**

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_**Consent**_

Chapter 6

Felix couldn't go and eat out every night that Isaac was in town. _Technically_ he could, but, really, did he want to? Karst wouldn't begrudge it if he did but Felix really, honestly, didn't want to find himself trapped at that inn table again after his second and third session. Because that's what they were: sessions. Not meals, not conversations, they were two and three hour stretches where he was lured in with food and then drilled, and lectured, and quizzed, and then there was _more_ drilling, and lecturing, and quizzing.

He didn't want to go anymore, he didn't want to be around them. He didn't want Jenna to relate to him their grandmother's poor condition after a terrible fall she'd taken. He didn't want Isaac to continue describing the state of Mnt. Aleph's crater, he was uncomfortable humouring the man's curiosity about Sol Sanctum. And Kay? No, he did not want her to bring him food at the forge where he was working, and no, his shirt was fine it didn't need to be mended, and no! He did not want to show them around Loho! He had to work! He needed money! _And no! Isaac could not cover the difference in his wages!_

This was why, after a week, Felix opened his eyes and didn't want to get up. It was his day off, and he didn't want to spend it with his sister, or her fiance, or her friend. He didn't want to go near the forge for fear of finding Kay there with another pie she'd baked, or bread, or stew, or whatever else she decided to whip up in the inn's kitchen. He'd accepted the gift the first day, even brought home some of the sweet cookies for Karst to enjoy with him, but they weren't gifts. Jenna was trying to bring him back using family, Isaac was playing the duty card, but Kay was doing something dangerous: she was combining both approaches and try to coax him into a marriage.

He knew it because that was what had begun to happen in Vale. He'd been lethargic for months before he finally left home, he hadn't really noticed that a shirt he gave to his mother was brought back by Kay. They'd gone on walks where she did all the talking and he listened because it was better than thinking. He went to her house and helped Garet fix things, or made repairs his friend was simply too busy for. Felix had been on his way to marrying Kay when he'd finally taken his life into his own hands and left.

Now everything was trying to catch up.

"Karst...?" She wasn't there when he looked over across the pile of blankets that made up their bed. They hadn't argued or touched each other for a few days, he'd been distant and he knew it, resolving now to make it right. He wasn't working today.

"Karst?"

"Does this look level to you?"

"What?" He didn't know how he hadn't heard her banging and working in the living room, but when he came out Felix found her looking down over a long wooden table- an egg in her hand that she was trying to roll across the top and see if there was any major slant... but she really didn't need the egg for that. "No, not really..."

"Damn." He hadn't known there had been enough wood for a table. "There wasn't, but I thought I'd try anyways from what we had left over from the kitchen." Which gave her three and a half legs... "Oh shut up, just make a stone block or something to hold it up!" Yes, dear.

Karst helped him move the table over to where she wanted it, then Felix knelt down and touched his fingertips to the stone floor. It was just flat, smooth bedrock, not tiled or anything artificial that could interfere with his psynergy. A small stone column lifted itself up out of the floor and lined up with the too-short leg, Felix stopping and giving the table a bit of a jerk to see-

BAM!

"_Don't break it!_" He said he was sorry and she snarled at him not to laugh like that. He repositioned the leg and formed a lip of stone to hold it in place, then stood up and followed her over to the kitchen. She had that egg gripped like a hostage in her hand, as it held all the secrets of cooking inside its fragile brown shell. Her face told him she didn't know what to make with it.

"Karst..."

"_Ugh!_ I'm sick of eggs, Felix." She abandoned the food item on the counter and turned around to face him. Karst leaned into his chest with her hands up, pulling on his shoulders as she pretended to cry. "I want meat!" She whined. "I want a big rack of something with red blood and thick bones in it, and I want it to roast until it's smoked and juicy and all covered in-"

"Please stop, I'm hungry too." She laughed at him and he wrapped his arms around her warmly, rocking her back and forth like he was trying to dance with her, and Karst rested her cheek on him, head tucked up under his chin. After a few moments he stopped and let go though, looking down at her as Karst brushed away a lock of her red hair and then placed her hands on her hips, giving him an expectant look.

"Well?" Well what? "Are you ready to talk yet or not?" About what? She rolled her eyes at him then walked away, "_Nevermind_." Picking up her egg again Karst grabbed a clean bowl and broke the brown shell on the edge, mashing it up with a metal fork before she remembered the stove fire and went over to coax that back to life with some psynergy.

"Karst-"

"That's the fourth time you've said my name," She said harshly, spinning around and looking at him firmly. Not mad, but maybe vexed. "What do you want, Felix?" That stopped him, or at least it sent a shock through him that got him thinking.

What _did_ he want?

"I..." It came to him quickly though, the answer. It was visceral, it came straight from his gut and he knew it was right. It just didn't translate very well into words. "Karst what I-" No, this wasn't going to work, not with her standing there between an oven and a cutting board, it wasn't right and didn't suit her at all. "Bear with me...?"

She pursed her lips tightly at him, but then just rolled her eyes, Karst's version of assent. Looking around their home quickly, Felix saw the table and pointed at it, then looked back at her.

"Could you stand over there instead?" Something she'd made, put together with nails and determination. She was too frugal to burn through their money with extra materials or something ready-made. Karst didn't look pleased, but she did what he asked and stood by the construction while Felix quickly turned around and locked the door. When he looked back at her Karst was judging him. And of course she would, they only locked their home up when they decided to-

"Really? You're acting like this because you just want-"

"No-" He cut her off, shaking his head as she leaned back on the table and folded her arms crossly. "No, no this is up here." Felix tapped the side of his head so she knew what he meant, Karst still not buying into it yet. "Please just... just stand there?"

"I'm standing."

"And don't move?"

"_I'm not_." And the _talking...?_

She warned him with her eyes, but Karst wasn't so sure of what he was doing now. She looked apprehensive, on-guard, but just when he knew she was going to say something Felix saw her tongue curl behind her lips before she closed her mouth again, waiting.

"I just... want to look at you." He got closer to her, but not quickly. Felix had run away from home without her, he'd resolved to stay away without her... but now he was _living_ here _with_ her. If she hadn't come back then would he still be like this? Would he be resisting the others? What was she supposed to be? His lover? A companion? A friend? His wife? "Don't move..."

He kissed her and watched for her reaction, stopping when her lips moved back against his- not what he'd said. Her pink skin flushed when she was kissed, but not a lot, and maybe some of it right now was just from frustration with him. When Felix reached up and drew her red hair back behind one long, pixie-split ear Karst's hand tried to come up and touch him, but he stopped again and watched her ball her fingers up in a fist, swearing softly as she forced her arm back down. Don't move.

He could feel her heat even when they weren't touching, a mixture of her temper and his presence, plus her own, natural heat as a mars adept and Proxian. Karst was always warm, and he felt her breath against his face and neck he took comfort in it, because at any moment she could go from warm to hot. She wasn't predictable or stale, she kept him alert, made him think, and she forced him to be aware. He was never numb or blind with her around, he couldn't afford to be.

A second kiss, this time with his hands holding her arms, caused her to lean back on the table a little, Karst stomping her foot loudly when he pulled back _again_ and made her stop moving. This was hard for her and she was doing it for him, he was asking a flame to stop burning and it was driving her nuts trying to be complacent. Complacency was not a demand she could meet, she wasn't _comfortable_ not moving, she didn't _like_ having to surrender like this, to be still. Felix hadn't known this about her, he'd never _asked_ her to be passive, and it was reassuring to see her struggle and fail- it meant he wasn't destroying what he loved about her, he was just testing it.

He then realized, sadly, that he _should_ have known this about her. He should have remembered that she didn't like being made still, he should have remembered that she couldn't stand being inert, or denied, or powerless. He should have remembered that Karst was, even if she wouldn't say it, _scared_ of being helpless. She was afraid of being trapped, and it didn't matter if it was under ice, or inside a dream, or like this: within her body. She didn't like this, and Felix, suddenly, didn't like it either. But there was still something else he had to know.

He saw that frustration and that muted, un-acknowledged fear in her when Karst closed her eyes, biting one red lip with a sharp white canine as Felix tugged off the open vest she was wearing. He forgave the way she started breathing- short, sharp pants- as he undid the laces holding her blue shirt closed, sensing the mixed emotions coming off of her. She was angry that she couldn't move or shift under his hands, aroused when he pulled each cord out slowly and exposed her throat, and then frightened when he pulled the garment open as wide as it would go, exposing her shoulders and part of her back. Karst even held her breath when he pulled it down all the way to her waist- her body tense and leaning back as he kept his hands down by her tangled wrists. And he just looked at her: he didn't want to touch, he didn't have to.

The mystery here was the woman, not her body. He knew her body, he knew it _very well_, and it wasn't the reason he was with her. He was with her because of this: because she was like this in front of him and she didn't like it. She didn't like it and it was difficult and, yes, it scared her- but she was doing it. Doing it because she trusted him, even when he was angry and upset- even when he was _violent_ she still trusted him never to hurt her. And Felix would never hurt her because he loved her. There, simple. He loved her.

"Okay, enough." He said quietly, his voice rough as he leaned in and kissed her. "Enough, marry me." He kept kissing her between words, eyes closed as his hands pulled her shirt back up and covered her. "Today. Marry me today."

"No." Felix tried to pull back and say something when he felt Karst gripping his chin with one shaking hand, then found himself looking into a pair of angry, clouded red eyes. "You don't get to do that to me and then tell me we're walking to the sanctum." And then she started pushing, making him walk with her backwards in the direction of their room. "'_Don't move_', puh! We'll see how you like it first."

"Don't ever do that." This confused her, and Felix quickly stepped up and wrapped his arms around her, one hand still trying to fix her dishevelled clothes while the other held the back of her head gently- Karst was stunned for a moment, but not frozen. "Don't ever change..." Don't ever stop fighting him.

"_...Never_ do that to me again." She was hugging back, holding on tightly and with her face close enough to him that Felix couldn't see her expression. It didn't matter if she was crying, it really, honestly didn't, because it just meant she was reacting, that she was being, and that she had control.

"I won't. I swear I never will." Never, he would never leave her powerless like that again.

* * *

******HELL WHAT? Yeah, I posted this and then three hours later I took it down. Why? I was _pissed_, that's why! I added a bunch of content to this thing at school, thought I saved it and then uploaded the chapter at home as soon as I figured out how to get around the stupid content error FF's dealing with. When I went to replace my original word document with the uploaded content, I found that my FSKING EDITS hadn't taken! I posted a frickin' raw draft!**

_******PISSED. PISSED. PISSED. **_******Removed and re-uploaded here, and MAN I'm still mad- because I totally didn't get to recapture the feeling the first version had. **


	7. Chapter 7

**SHENANIGANS.**

* * *

_**Consent**_

Chapter 7

"Not working?"

"Nope, Felix has the day off, one out of every seven's good for a man, I say." But he hadn't said anything, it didn't make sense for him to just... "But, uh, you know that's a very nice pie you have there. I could always, oh, _deliver it_ to him if you'd like?"

No, bad old man! Kay shifted defensively as the heavy man who ran the forge leered down at the fresh, warm dish resting on her arm, moving the pie away so he and the men in the back couldn't see it around her. They were like dogs, all crowded around the forge door waiting for food. Well, this wasn't for them, and she wouldn't trust them to _deliver_ anything but a few crumbs and some well-wishes.

"No, thank you." She said sweetly, trying not to scrunch up her nose at them. "Could you please tell me which inn he's staying in?"

"Inn?" Yes, she- "What inn? Is he in trouble or something?" No...

"Felix... lives in one of Loho's inns..." She said the words shyly, afraid of putting too much conviction into it when she saw one of the men in the back whisper something in his friend's ear- then they both burst out laughing. It was hard not to flush brilliantly, but her skin was heating up anyways from embarrassment.

"_Back to work!_" The old man hollered, the men whining and laughing as they slowly left the door, a few more loud bursts of mirth shooting back out at her. "Now, lass..." Kay looked at him and saw the old man change his face around until his bushy eyebrows were raised in a fatherly, well-meaning way- but it was also completely condescending, like she wouldn't understand him unless he spoke slowly. "Felix quit madame Leslie's house at least six months ago."

He-? Well, alright then, what of it? He'd probably just found another room someplace. Now that fatherly expression went and changed into a frown, the forge-master shaking his head carefully and apparently waiting for her to catch something.

"Why don'tcha go talk to him?" He said, and then pointed his hand straight at one wall, indicating the direction she should go along the street. "Down about four blocks till you see a big old empty lane, third patch of tile and brick to the south. Nice view of the water, he's been fixing the place up with- well, you'll see." And then the man had the audacity to _snort_ at her, stifling the laugh poorly behind his hand. This was Felix's boss? What a horrible, rude old man!

"Thank you, _sir_." Trying very hard to be polite, Kay gave a smile and a nod before she quickly turned and headed out the door into the sunlight. She was careful not to trip over the loose gravel making up the road, balancing the warm pie on her arm before she started walking in the direction he'd pointed out. She was tempted to go back to the inn and find Isaac or Jenna, but thought better of it: the old man had probably been lying, teasing her for some cruel reason. There was no reason to drag either of her friends into this, Jenna would just get mad at the old man and Isaac would probably, bless him, feel the need to call him on his rudeness.

Kay was going to just make sure she settled whatever this was so she knew exactly what to say to Jenna that evening. And Felix too! He would definitely be coming to dinner again, he'd promised. She felt better just thinking about it!

* * *

They did it. They got married. They'd both gone in straight-faced, treating it almost like a chore since, marriage, so what? It was just a formal way of saying what they both already knew.

Then it actually happened, and the first thing he did was lift his wife up and swing her around because he was so happy. And Karst was happy too, it wasn't just him, because she'd been laughing too hard to yell at him to put her down. They hadn't dressed up, there had been no flowers, and the only witness had been someone in the sanctum who had come to have her son's sprained wrist checked by the healer.

Felix had grabbed the boy's hand and healed it impulsively, he was too happy to keep his psynergy a secret, and the child's mother had been too busy speaking to the old man at the alter to see what happened. He and Karst had left the small building before the woman even turned around.

From there they went straight to the market, perhaps the first time he'd walked with his arm around Karst and the only time she'd ever tolerate it again. Almost all of their money went into one thing: a cut of meat and bone that would have made any Proxian table proud. Karst knew how to cook meat, she was almost insulted when he tried to ask. It didn't matter if it was pig or cow or horse: she was from Prox! Don't be an idiot!

They didn't know the butcher personally, but with Karst's enthusiasm and Felix's bashful behaviour the man worked the story out of them as he wrapped the heavy cut up in a sheet of thick paper. Really? No money at all for a party with guests? Family too far away to come? Fine, pick something off the table- a gift!

"No, no, no! What am I, cheap? You don't take the giblets, girl, you want _these_." The man gestured to a few sausage links, the cured meat pink and speckled with black spices. Sausage was not expensive, but it was a large step up from chicken guts and Karst held onto the two free pieces like they were made of gold as they walked. It didn't matter to Felix whether the man was genuinely happy for them or fishing for customers, it worked both ways: he'd definitely go back to him whenever they splurged on food they couldn't afford.

They were greeted several more times as they retreated from the market back towards home, repeating the same conversations each time. Getting married eventually had been planned, having it done today had been an impulse- Felix had forgotten how many people in town they actually considered _friends._ By the time they were ambling up the last block to get home they had a loaf of fresh bread, several small potatoes, some onions, and a large bottle filled with something that probably wasn't very good, but which they were going to drink tonight anyways. All wedding gifts.

"You should have married me months ago." Karst laughed, although she was a bit more reserved now after too many sudden hugs from people who she was not used to touching. Felix also felt like he'd very quickly run up to his socializing quota for the next little while, putting that from his mind right now so he could think about _tonight _with her, not _tomorrow _at work. Or._.._

'_Oh no...' _Or right now, with Kay.

* * *

"Felix!" Oh good, he was here! Well, maybe it wasn't _good_, but it looked like he was helping carry some woman's groceries. Leaving her dish on the rocky ground where it wouldn't spill or fall, Kay quickly stood up and straightened her skirts and apron, then ran her hand back over her bright red hair once to make sure it was still straight and held back by her headband. She then picked the dish back up and quickly trotted up to where he was standing, the woman had stopped next to him and was saying something.

The woman was... ugly. Short, shorter than Kay, and her face was very, very red, like it was sunburnt and she was really embarrassed all the time. Her red hair was a nice colour but... too dark, maybe it was dirty? It was long and hung down past her shoulders, unbound and covering her cheeks instead of brushed and braided back so it looked neat. Her clothes- she was wearing pants? And a shapeless wool sweater too, dark brown and ugly.

But Felix, he looked stunned, like he was so happy to see her that he didn't know what to do! Well, she'd probably embarrassed him, but it was so nice to see him helping someone. In fact, it looked like he was carrying enough food to feed a whole family- did she have kids?

"Kay..." Did she hear that? A tremor? "You're here."

"Yes, I- I made you something but your boss said you weren't working today." She gestured carefully with the pie, then tried to take a step back as the woman leaned over to get a look at it.

"That really does look good." Kay crushed the urge to say _'So?'._ It wasn't for her but she didn't have to be rude to the woman, at least not until she said, "If it's for us then do you want to come bring that inside?" And then something about their hands being full, Kay stopped listening.

"Excuse me?" The woman raised one red eyebrow, her crimson eyes now coming to Kay's attention- was this woman an adept?

"In the house..?" She tried again, and Kay put on her best smile and shook her head.

"No, I'm sorry this isn't for _you._" She said, making it clear this time and keeping her temper in check as the short, ugly little woman tilted her head to the side and changed her stance, resting her weight back on one leg like she was sizing Kay up for a challenge. Was _everyone_ in Loho this rude and presumptuous? "It's for Felix."

"_Just_ for Felix?" Of course, what else was that supposed to mean? He was free to share it if he wanted to but- "Felix." The woman turned away from her and Kay felt her dislike increase, looking at Felix now where he still hadn't moved, but now his face was grim. "I'm in a good mood today, _husband_, so, please, who is she?"

Hus-?

"An old friend-" Felix found his voice, Kay was trying to hear properly. "-from Vale."

"_Oh,_ from _Vale_..." Husband? The woman's smile couldn't have been more fake if it was painted on, but, Kay felt that was the point. "Then I'll let you two _talk_." She took a large bottle- was that wine?- from Felix's grasp, then pulled on the large sling from him that looked like it was carrying more food, and walked away from them without another word. Her short stature made her wobble and rock as she made her way up to the door and vanished inside. As she watched Kay was desperate for the horrible woman to fall over from the weight, and maybe break her neck while she was at it.

Felix didn't take long to speak, that woman- his _wife?_ She hadn't even shut the door before he was looking at Kay and speaking.

"You should go home, Kay." No, not without him! They'd come all the way here to- "This is where I want to be now. I'm staying" She was crying, she could feel the tears, humiliated and heart-broken, coming down from her eyes. "My life is here now, not Vale."

"But- how _could _you?" She asked, keeping her voice down and holding in her sobs, she was hurting so much right now it was hard to look at him- he didn't even look sorry! "We- we're your family, you're a _part_ of Vale." He shook his head! He was denying her!

"Not anymore." No! This wasn't fair, he was supposed to- "Go home, Kay."

"_Who is she! ?"_ Stabbing one hand at the closed door, Kay let one sob- just one! break through as she stared at him, suddenly furious that there was some unknown, ugly, nameless woman standing on the other side of that door. "Well? You owe me that- who is she, Felix? Just some stupid smith's daughter? An ugly onion girl?"

"I owe you _nothing._" He came storming up to her and Kay didn't know what to do- he was angry, she'd never seen him angry before. It happened so fast- but now his eyes were black and his entire face was twisted and cruel, the ground rumbling with his steps until he was towering over her. "I was _asleep_ in Vale- I was _dying_. Now you think you can march into my life and tell me I'm wrong for wanting to live? You think you can insult my wife to my face and I'll just let it go because of some imaginary debt?" His voice wasn't loud, he wasn't yelling at her, but the hate- oh Mars she could _feel it!_ She shrunk back, trying to make herself smaller, and didn't know what to do when he took another step to make up for the one she put between them.

"_Get out of Loho._" Kay didn't know what jostled her until she looked down at the broken dish laying on the ground- he'd knocked the pie out of her grasp. The violent act forced her to clamp both her hands over her mouth, trying not to scream. This was not Felix, this was not the boy she'd grown up with, this was not the young hero she'd loved- this was not him, it was not, it was not, it was not... "_Go!"_

She did. She _ran._

* * *

Only after Kay was gone and out of sight did Felix close his eyes and relax. Why tonight? Why did tonight have to be when this happened? He looked at the sky and saw the rosy orange lights of dusk overhead, wondering bleakly what kind of mood Karst was in after all of that. Of all the _nights_.

"Karst." He knocked on his own door, placing his hands on his hips and waiting patiently outside. "Karst, let me in." He was left waiting out there for several minutes, but he wasn't hearing any loud banging or crashes. Even better was that the house wasn't on fire, so he was alright with waiting.

When Karst finally _did_ open the door, Felix didn't rush in and grab her, didn't force himself on her and begin apologizing and begging forgiveness or anything else to say he was in trouble. He just looked over her shoulder as she stuck her head out and looked around for any sign of Kay. Inside, he could see that heavy slab of meat roasting over the large hearth, smell the spices she'd rubbed into the fat all the way from here. There were two wooden cups resting on their new table and the wine was waiting, unopened but with the cork half-out.

After they'd each finished checking out what the other had been up to, their eyes met with understanding. Not tonight. They could fight and yell and be angry -be normal- tomorrow, but not now. Not tonight. Tonight they didn't even need to speak.

* * *

**More Russian Roulette, and Felix goes RAWR!**

**And I lied last chapter, I don't have chapter 8 done, or even started, it's just a waste having this one finished and not posting it.**


End file.
